The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued its hospital inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) and long-term care hospital PPS proposed rule for fiscal year 2015, and included in the rule is a requirement that hospitals begin publically posting what they charge for services by October 1.

After one month of uncertainty, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services formally announced the new ICD-10 compliance date: Oct. 1, 2015.

Federal mandates, mobile health, patient engagement, privacy and security were top issues.

The Florida House of Representatives has passed by a margin of 100 to 19 a bill to increase the number of physician assistants (PAs) a single physician may supervise from four to eight. The Florida Senate will consider the bill next.

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) has asked the Federal Trade Commission to do more to clarify how it will approach enforcement of the Clayton Act on hospital and health system mergers when many of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act encourage healthcare consolidation.

Noting that the government could save as much as $15 billion, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to equalize payment rates for low-risk surgeries performed in hospital outpatient settings with those done at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), but so far CMS is not enthusiastic about the idea.

Language in the last minute SGR patch, Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, mandated that ICD-10 be delayed for at least a year but did not specify an exact timeline.

The American Hospital Association, four state hospital associations and four hospital/healthcare systems are taking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to court over its controversial two-midnight rule that restricts inpatient payment to only be appropriate in cases where the admitting physician expects that the patient will stay in the hospital long enough to cover at least two midnights.